Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Sovereign Immunity After Galette V. New Jersey Transit Corporation: A Chance To Protect All Higher Education Students From Fraudulent, Unfair, And Deceptive Practices, Chris Bryant, Daniel A. Zibel

Fordham Law Review Online

In recent years, increasing financial pressures on colleges and universities have driven many institutions to focus heavily on strategies to increase institutional revenue. Although strategies vary, many institutions have undertaken partnerships with private companies. Some institutions have adopted recruitment and enrollment tactics traditionally associated with for profit colleges, while others have simply acquired for-profit colleges.

The increased focus on revenue maximization by public and nonprofit institutions is not without risk to students. But in many places, the law creates a dichotomy: when students at public institutions fall victim to unfair or deceptive practices from those schools, they generally have fewer …

Clickwrap Accountability, Alicia Solow-Niederman

Fordham Law Review

Picture a public‑facing generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on a government website that can answer questions about benefits eligibility. Systems like these expose a sociotechnical-legal divide: They route around the standard due process framework because there has been no formal government determination, yet they induce reliance from users, above and beyond past rounds of automated legal guidance. Moreover, if there is an error, current doctrine on government errors and equitable estoppel makes relief unlikely.

This Essay focuses on government deployment of public‑facing generative AI chatbots and critically assesses the front‑end power dynamics that determine who is filtered out of government …

Algorithmic Models And The Freedom Of Speech, Alexander Tsesis

Fordham Law Review

Intentionality and reason are intrinsic features of the human mind that large language models (LLMs) entirely lack. Although LLMs generate natural-language sentences through algorithmic processes, autonomously produced machine speech lacks the consciousness of human speakers. This intrinsic distinction between natural persons and artificial machines is consequential to whether LLM-generated outputs are covered by the First Amendment. Scholars who equate the constitutional value of human speech with algorithmic outputs tend to emphasize the informational value of those outputs to audiences while giving insufficient attention to the absence of machine consciousness. The conscious underpinnings of thought and their relation to constitutional protections …

Frictionless Fans, Fragmented Law: A Hybrid Approach To Regulating Stadium Biometrics, Janaye K.S. Dowers

University of Miami Law Review

The future of stadium entry may require no ticket at all, just a face. Across the United States, stadiums are increasingly replacing traditional tickets, credentials, and payment methods with biometric identification systems designed to move thousands of fans through gates and concessions with unprecedented speed. However, the law governing these systems remains far less seamless. In the absence of comprehensive federal biometric legislation, stadium operators, technology vendors, and attendees must navigate a fragmented patchwork of state and local laws that provides inconsistent protections and leaves fundamental questions of accountability unresolved.

Using stadiums as a case study for the expanding private-sector …

Hope Springs Eternal: Phantom Visions For Deregulated Health Insurance, Mark A. Hall

Journal of Law and Health

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) no longer seek explicitly to "repeal and replace" this widely popular law. Instead, opponents increasingly have turned to promoting deregulated alternatives like short-term health insurance, association health plans, and ministries that circumvent the ACA’s core requirement requirements, claiming that they offer better coverage options at substantially less cost. This essay explains, however, why comprehensive health insurance cannot remain affordable if the ACA's core regulatory structure is easily avoided.

The key insight is that, because health care costs are highly skewed across the population —such that the top 20% of spenders account for 80% …

Digital Media And Its Effect On Domestic And International Copyright, Jasmine Martin

Latin American & Caribbean Law Review

This article explores the history of modern copyright law and identifies the pitfalls of a legal framework built around physical media, such as the doctrines of first sale and fair use. As markets have shifted to digital distribution, these doctrines have been weakened or displaced by licensing regimes that redefine ownership as limited access. The article argues that this transition has systematically eroded consumer rights, allowing copyright holders to impose restrictions through contracts and technological controls that bypass traditional protections.

On The Need To Recognize The Erga Omnes Effect In Fundamental Rights In Chilean Law, José Luis Guerrero Becar

Latin American & Caribbean Law Review

This article refers to the Chilean legal tradition of the relative effect of judgments, that is, their effects apply only to the parties involved in the litigation. This principle has an express exception in the Consumer Rights Protection Act, which mentions the erga omnes effect. Since 2010, this principle has come under scrutiny due to constitutional injunctions in social security matters administered by private companies known as ISAPRES (National Health Insurance Companies). These companies have increased the prices of health plans, using tables that apply factors based on age and sex. This has led to the filing of thousands of …

Tech Oligarchs And Corporate Vigilantism, Joao Marinotti, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Big Tech’s unchecked power has evolved from a regulatory crisis into one concerning the rule of law itself. Shielded by the First Amendment, Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, corporate law, and contract law, technology giants have circumvented traditional government oversight, amassing a level of power that eclipses even that of some sovereign states. No longer guided by cautious boards of directors, today’s tech empires are often ruled by impulsive billionaire CEOs, who, through a single policy change or algorithmic tweak, can upend individual rights, destabilize global markets, and erode democratic governance itself.

The scale of such dangers …

The Legal Risks Posed By Ai Chatbots: Unfair And Deceptive Practices And Other Authorities, Stephanie T. Nguyen, Adam Teitelbaum

Center for Law and the Economy

Growing alarm about existential risks and other harms posed by AI technology have given rise to calls for the government to regulate AI platforms.

This issue brief addresses a related but distinct problem: the use of AI technology by large corporations — including AI platforms themselves — to deploy AI customer-service chatbots1 in ways that may violate existing consumer protection laws. Law enforcers and the plaintiffs’ bar can and should use existing law to stop and deter those violations, and all businesses using AI chatbots should take immediate steps to ensure their AI chatbot practices are compliant with consumer protection …

The Mirage Of Meta Pixel Code: Redefining Pii In The Era Of Generative Ai, Sophie Venter

Fordham Law Review

Data privacy laws are intended to put consumers in control of whether their identifying data can be sold and used for targeted advertising. However, these laws do not provide adequate protections in the era of generative artificial intelligence (AI). This Note examines one way that existing privacy law permits companies to profit from selling data for targeted advertising without obtaining user consent: transferring video watching data in a pixel code. Some U.S. Courts of Appeals have determined that these data transfers do not sufficiently identify users and the videos they watched to constitute violations of user privacy. This has led …

Ending Randomized Outcomes: Using Consumer Protection Laws To Regulate Video Game Loot Boxes And Monetization Practices That Target Children, Dennis Reilly

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The New Economic Liberties, Daniel B. Rodriguez

Northwestern University Law Review

Despite the lack of serious interrogation at the federal constitutional level of economic regulations, there continues to be a fairly robust, energetic attention at the level of state constitutional law to so-called economic liberties. In a number of key cases, including, for example, matters involving occupational licensing, state courts have looked to unique features of their respective state constitutions to assess whether and to what extent regulations undertaken under the police power go too far. The rationales for evaluating and, in some cases, invalidating regulations under economic liberties principles are creative, and also controversial. The development of new interpretive approaches …

Analisis Penerapan Hukum Penghentian Sementara Transaksi Rekening Dormant Oleh Ppatk Dalam Perspektif Pelindungan Nasabah, Aura Malika

Technology and Economics Law Journal

Since May 2025, PPATK has imposed a temporary suspension of transactions on 122 million dormant bank accounts. This policy has prompted complaints from many affected customers who claimed that they were not involved in any criminal activity and were not informed of the policy in advance. Accordingly, this study examines the legal construction of the temporary suspension of transactions and the regulation of dormant accounts from the perspective of customer protection. This research employs a doctrinal legal research method, supported by interview data obtained from a credible informant. The findings indicate that the legal implementation of PPATK’s policy is not …

Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting Money Out Of Politics By Putting Money Into Politics: A Few Modest Proposals To Reform Seattle’S Democracy Voucher Program, Decker O’Donnell

Seattle University Law Review

Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program offers an unconventional response to the growing influence of money in American elections: rather than restricting political spending, it seeks to amplify the participation of ordinary voters by providing publicly funded vouchers that residents may assign to participating candidates. This Article examines the program’s development, operation, and constitutional foundation within the modern campaign-finance framework established by Buckley v. Valeo and subsequent Supreme Court decisions. It argues that democracy vouchers provide a constitutionally viable means of broadening participation in campaign financing while mitigating the influence of wealthy donors. The Article identifies two weaknesses in the current system: …

Legal Malpractice In Washington: Use Of The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Angelo Tadrous

Seattle University Law Review

Legal malpractice claims are difficult to prove. They are difficult to prove because many jurisdictions require that a plaintiff prove that, but for the lawyer’s misconduct, the client would have fared better. Thus, in a malpractice suit, a plaintiff must try a case within a case. Despite this difficulty, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of the Rules of Professional Conduct when litigating a malpractice case. Washington State is one of these jurisdictions. The Washington Supreme Court held in Hizey v. Carpenter that the Rules of Professional Conduct may not be referred to during trial. This Note argues that this prohibition …

Converting Buildings Is Hard: Why Seattle’S Municipal Government Should Streamline Commercial-To-Residential Conversions, Tyler M. King

Seattle University Law Review

The conversion of commercial buildings into housing is a promising solution to the growing housing crisis in many urban areas. However, despite its potential benefits, the process of repurposing commercial spaces is often stymied by complex zoning codes, high conversion costs, and bureaucratic hurdles. This Article argues that the local and state governments in Seattle should adopt more streamlined policies and offer greater incentives to developers to facilitate these conversions. By reforming zoning regulations and providing targeted financial support, municipalities can reduce the barriers to conversion and unlock the potential of underutilized commercial properties. This article examines the legal and …

Who Decides The Dead? Interpreting Washington’S Disposition Of Remains Statute, Wyatt Young

Seattle University Law Review

Washington’s disposition-of-remains statute, RCW 68.50.160, is designed to honor a decedent’s expressed wishes regarding the control and disposition of their body after death. Yet recent litigation reveals a critical gap between the statute’s intent-centered design and its practical enforceability. In Larotonda v. Blackburn, a trial court acknowledged that irreparable harm would occur if a decedent’s burial wishes were ignored but nonetheless denied relief on the grounds that the individual designated to carry out those wishes lacked standing. The result was a legal paradox: a statute that recognizes decedent autonomy in theory but withholds any meaningful mechanism for its enforcement …

Sandbox Fictions, Douglas Sarro

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Regulatory sandboxes are designed to give firms space to offer novel products and services to consumers on a trial basis, under an interim, tailor-made regulatory regime. Ideally, this leaves regulators better placed to understand how rules ought to be modified to accommodate new, socially beneficial offerings on a more permanent basis. But little is known about sandboxes’ implications for consumers. Will they reduce barriers to entry for innovative offerings that do a better job of serving consumer needs? Or will they lead regulators to compromise on consumer protections, allowing low-quality or even fraudulent offerings to flow into the markets they …